1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to communication systems and associated infrastructures that facilitate the delivery of media content, such as video content, to co-located viewers.
2. Background Art
There are rising desires and expectations for personal and interactive media delivery that is causing dissatisfaction among co-located viewers. For example, co-located viewers of a television must share a single display screen and, typically, a single remote control associated therewith. In such an environment, the selection of particular media content (e.g., particular video content) by one viewer often leads to disputes and viewer dissatisfaction. Where the selected media content is interactive, those who are not in control of the remote control and the interactivity decisions implemented therewith may become further dissatisfied. Additionally, when one viewer invokes pause, rewind, and replay type functions during video playback, this can prove annoying to other co-located viewers. Likewise, when one viewer utilizes the shared display screen to check other media or data (e.g., e-mail, etc.) during video playback, this can annoy other co-located viewers. Additionally, the communication of widgets and such to accompany a video selection are often not tailored to all viewers. Similar problems exist for other devices having a single display screen such as computers, smart phones, and the like.
Certain televisions implement so-called “picture-in-picture” (PIP) technology to allow two video streams to be viewed simultaneously via the same display screen. However, this technology is less than optimal in that the PIP view is typically fixed in size, smaller than desired, and is presented at the expense of a portion of the larger view. Furthermore the PIP view is typically presented without accompanying audio.
Certain video games have been designed that partition a shared display “space” into different sections in order to accommodate views associated with multiple co-located players. This approach is less than optimal in that each player must accept a fixed view of reduced size and also in that each player can see the views of the other players, which can be confusing and lead to unfair game practices. This approach is also less than optimal in that although each player has their own view, they do not have their own accompanying audio.